Musical instrument and support therefor



MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND SUPPORT THEREFOR Filed Sept. 4, .1945

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Patented Aug. 9, 1949 MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AND SUPPORT THEREFOR William Karl Krause, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application September 4, 1945. Serial No. 614,419

3 Claims.

My invention relates to a musical instrument generally known as a bow zither, in that it has a zither-like arrangement of strings disposed above a finger board and is played by means of a bow drawn across said strings, and the principal object of my invention is, to provide simple and readily adjustable means for clamping a five stringed violin, which clamping means includes a finger board that overlies the finger board of said violin, further, to provide a vertically adjustable leg or standard for the violin clamping means and further, to provide the adjustable standard with adjustable braces adapted to be engaged by the knees of the player of the instrument.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my improved musical instrument.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the instrument,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a prefer-red embodiment of my invention, l0 and H designate the upper and lower parts of a leg or standard and the adjacent end portions of said parts are threaded as designated by Na and I la so as to be screw seated in the ends of an internally threaded tube 12, so that when the latter is rotated, the length of the standard is increased or decreased.

The lower end of member ll carries a shoe l3, preferably of rubber which is adapted to rest on the fioor and to the upper member ID, is secured a block M, in the top of which is formed a notch l5, having a convex bottom face l6,

Pivoted on a pin or bolt ll which passes transversely through block M, are plates I8, which depend from the sides of a finger board I9, the latter being concave-convex in cross section so as to fit snugly upon cover of the neck and finger board portion N of a violin such as V. This violin or as it is generally termed by musicians bow zither, has five strings S, which are supported by a bridge B on the violin body and a second bridge B on the outer end of the finger board. A conventional violin or viola may be converted into a bow zither by adding to the peg box P a fifth peg and adding a fifth string to the four strings of said violin or viola.

The strings are connected in conventional manner to tuning keys or pegs P, rotatively seated in peg box P. Notched block l4 provides a saddle for supporting the neck of the bow zither in differently adjusted positions, and after plates l8, finger board I9 and engaged neck have been adjusted to the desired position, said plates are clamped to block 14 by a set screw 20, which passes through an arcuate slot 2| formed in one of said plates concentric with axis bolt I1 and said screw being seated in block I (see Fig. 3).

If desired, short wedges such as 22, may be driven into clamping position between the upper portions of plates 18, the finger board IS, the top of block l4 and the sides of the neck N, in order to more firmly secure the bow zither in its adjusted position on said block (see Figs. 3 and 4) The split ends of short horizontal arms 23 are mounted for vertical and rotary adjustment on leg member ID and clamped thereto by bolts 24 and the outer ends of said arms are padded as designated by 25.

After the leg or standard has been adjusted to the proper height and the bow zither adjusted to the proper angle on the block [4, arms 23 may be adjusted on member ID, so as to enable the pads 25 on said arms to be conveniently engaged by the knees of the seated player and thus the instrument is firmly held while being played.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a simple, practical and readily a'djustable means for converting a violin or viola into a bow zither and for conveniently supporting same while being played.

Minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved musical instrument may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A support for bow zithers comprising an adjustable standard, a block on the upper end of said standard, an inverted U-shaped clamp carried by said block and a pair of horizontally disl ff, 2,478,587 I V I 1 4 posed knee engaging braces adjustablv mounted REFERENCES CITED on said standard. 7 The following references are of record in the 2. The bow zither support as set forth in claim me of this patent:

1, which block is provided in its upper portion with a notch for reception of the neck of the bow 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS zither and the bottom of which notch is convex Number Name Date lengthwlse' 751,880 Stevenson Feb. 9, 1904 3. The bow zither support as set forth in claim 1 285 802 Russell Nov 26 1918 1, said clamp being mounted for tilting movement r on said block and a set screw for securing said 10 FOREIGN PATENTS clamp in-difierentiy adjusted positions. Number Country Date MAM KARL KRAUSE: 357,922 Germany Sept, 6, 1922 

